’12 Years A Slave’ Director Steve McQueen Eyes Musical As One Of His Next Projects

12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen is eyeing a musical as one of his next projects.

The director, who is promoting Viola Davis-fronted crime drama Widows, which opens this month, told British current affairs series The Andrew Marr Show, “I want to do a musical. I want to make myself happy. Right now, [the world] is dark, it’s heavy, there’s no ifs, buts, maybes about it, it’s so unsure and uncertain and I think I need to shake off the blues and make us all happy.”

It would mark a new direction for the director and Turner Prize-award winning artist, who has previously directed films such as historical drama Hunger and sex addiction feature Shame. His latest feature Widows is released in the UK on November 6 and in the U.S. on November 16. The drama, which McQueen wrote with Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn, is based on Lynda La Plante’s 1983 ITV series. It stars Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriquez, Cynthia Erivo, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Robert Duvall and Daniel Kaluuya, and is produced by See Saw Films, with New Regency, 20th Century Fox and Film 4 co-financing.

Last year, the Oscar-winning director struck a multi-year overall deal with New Regency. Repped by Casarotto Ramsay and Associates, CAA and attorney Carlos Goodman, McQueen is separately working on a documentary about Tupac Shakur, and a television project for BBC.